A. Field of the Invention
The present subject matter relates to lighting. More particularly, the present subject matter relates to LED (light emitting diode) based traffic lamps and associated circuitry.
B. Description of Related Art
Currently, traffic light control systems are specifically designed to operate with incandescent or halogen lamps. Both of these lamp types are relatively high power consumption devices. More recently, the use of LED traffic lamps has found favor for many reasons; including longer life expectancies than previously used lamps, as well as their operation at significantly lower energy consumption rates.
An issue has arisen, however, in that some specific street traffic light controllers expect a load power consumption greatly exceeding that of an LED traffic lamp. In these cases, simply replacing the normally used incandescent or halogen lamp with an LED replacement device may cause the controller to malfunction or otherwise decide that the lamp is burned out and, thus, stop sending control signals to the lamp.
In view of these known issues, it would be advantageous, therefore, to provide a circuit for use with LED traffic lamps that will allow existing street traffic light controllers to continue normal operations using LED or other type low power consumption lamps.